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Aston and Fleet: Hampton Roads lawmakers continue to deliver for higher education
It is not common these days to hear voters say positive things about what leaders in government are doing. Yet, in this age of political division, Virginians agree on at least one big thing: Our top-ranked higher education system drives growth and opportunity in our commonwealth. And, in Hampton Roads, our legislators are leading the way. Recently, our organization, the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, released the results of a wide-ranging statewide public opinion survey to gauge voters’ views on higher education.
Volunteers keep watch over Smith Mountain Lake’s water quality for nearly four decades
For nearly 40 years, volunteers and environmental experts have made sure Smith Mountain Lake is ready for a season of fishing, swimming, and other recreational use. And while finding help over that time is rarely a problem, concerns about Harmful Algae Blooms are bringing new focus to their work. Ferrum College laboratory supervisor Carol Love has been monitoring Smith Mountain Lake since the late 1990’s.
Spencer: Despite Medicaid pledges, Wittman and Kiggans folded
“We cannot and will not support a final reconciliation bill that includes any reduction in Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations.” That is what U.S. Reps. Rob Wittman and Jen Kiggans, along with 10 other Republican House members, wrote in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson on April 14. On May 22, Wittman and Kiggans voted for a House budget reconciliation bill that the Congressional Budget Office says could leave 16 million people without health insurance over the next decade. Millions of those people will lose coverage because of $803 billion in cuts to Medicaid ...
2020 red flag laws rarely used by most Va. localities
In 2018, police arrested Brandon Lee Rhodes in Chesterfield and charged him with assault and battery of a family member. In April 2023, he was charged again, this time after lighting the house on fire and assaulting his mother, according to a police report. That report said the attack left fingermarks on her neck. His mother explained that Rhodes suffers from mental illness. He was placed under court-ordered probation in lieu of a jail sentence. This January, Chesterfield police again rushed to the family’s home in Matoaca, where Rhodes was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. Family said that Rhodes, during a mental health episode, took his brother’s gun from an unlocked gun cabinet and shot his mother’s best friend.